PD 2013 & WUG

The first week of July (5th to 7th) saw a team of 18 members travelling up to Malaysia for the annual Port Dickson International Triathlon. It is the second consecutive year SIM Aquathlon has decided to take part in. 

The majority of the team took part in both the Sprint and Triathlon Challenge categories. For a few of us, we enjoyed the experience of our very first triathlon race.

The team on Day 1

"It was great to see a few first timers taking the first step into this sport (triathlon); doing their maiden race. We are hopeful that this annual trip of SIM Aquathlon will see more members giving a go at this amazing sport," shared Wai Kit, Vice-President of SIM Aquathlon.

For Wai Kit, it was certainly a memorable race to remember. He came in 2nd for Triathlon Challenge in the Men 16-29 age category.

Wai Kit racing

Speaking on behalf of those who raced, I would like to say that we would not have been able to perform in our respective races as well, if not for the support from the rest of our teammates. To you who cheered and shouted us on, thank you!

While the majority of the team was away, Ting Ting was too competing overseas. She was part of the contingent who represented our nation in the biennial World University Games in Kazan, Russia for swimming.

With the conclusion of these events, the team now looks ahead to prepare for the annual SUniG in September. 

P.S. A revamp of the website is coming soon!

Season 13/14

Hello everyone! It has been a while. (Sweeps huge stack of dust)

The majority of us are finally done with exams. Oh good riddance to the books. For the few out there (SIM Students) who still have a few more papers to go, do persevere on!

This past week signifies the beginning of a new season. It was certainly great seeing all of you who came. We did a couple of light swim sets and easy run, led by Tingting and Wai Kit respectively. There was also a fun element in each training session which everyone enjoyed and drew a few laughs from. Personally, I felt it was a very good first week back to fitness.

I understand that many of us have not been training of late and there is a feeling that you are badly out of shape. Well, fret not, you are certainly not alone and there is no better time than to get back to shape today. :) For those who are having holidays, now is a good time to train, before school resumes.

For the record, our training sessions are held on the following days:
Tuesday, 7pm: Swim at United World College.
Wednesday, 7pm: Run at Ngee Ann Polytechinc Track. (We usually meet outside the gym in school first)
Thursday, 7.30pm: Swim at Sports Lifestyle Initiative.

Looking ahead, there are a few events this year. Firstly, the start of July will see more than a dozen of us travelling up to participate in Port Dickson Triathlon 2013. For a couple of us, it will be our first triathlon overseas. There is also the annual Singapore University Games in September. The race calendar will be out soon, so do visit this website again for updates!

First Bricks At ECP this season!!

SIM Aquathlon will be holding brick trainings at East Coast Park from this week onwards. Brick workouts are purposed to simulate biathlon/triathlon race conditions where two disciplines are performed back to back with little or no interruption in between. Where else can be more ideal to perform these workouts than the actual location where most races will be held at? ECP! Our first brick training at ECP will be held this coming sunday at 9am.

We will gather at our usual meeting place which is F2 carpark of ECP. (near the bougainvillea area) Training starts at 9, so please be punctual and ready by then!
As usual, things to bring includes swim attire, run attire and SWIMCAPS(both males and females)! Swimcaps are important for Brick trainings as it is of paramount safety concern that all of us are easily identifiable when we are swimming in the open waters. Since it is brick training, there are bound to be transition sets. So do bring along all other items necessary for you to practice a smooth transition! Towels, water bottles, vaseline, lace locks for shoes..just to name a few.

Those of you who wish to meet to get to ECP as a group may meet at 830am at Bedok MRT. We will be car pooling and sharing cabs to head to ECP together.

Newcomers who have just joined us are also invited to come train with us this Sunday! Brick training will definitely give you a full taste of all the joy and pain in the sport of Aquathlon, so dont be shy to try!

You Are Invited!!

Hi! Thank you for signing up with SIM AQUATHLON during the CCA recruitment drive. We are inviting you to attend an orientation swim training with us on this coming Monday, 30th July 2012 at United World College Dover Campus. Please be there by 7pm so that we can start our briefing and training proper. How to get there? You can take bus 74 from the bus stop opposite our school (bus stop named OPP SIM HQ) and alight 10 stops later at Dover Rd (bus stop named OPP UNITED WORLD COLLEGE). What to bring? Simply bring your swimming attire and googles! Waterproof watches and water bottles are also essential items we recommend to bring for training. What to expect? There will be a mandatory swim trial for all at the start of the session. This is just for us to identify those of you who are more comfortable in swimming. More will be revealed on the day itself.

To those who did not sign up with us at the booth, fret not! You too are invited to have a splash with us! But kindly contact us first by writing in an email and let us know of your intention to come, so we know that we are expecting you!

This is a great opportunity for interested newcomers to come try the sport of Aquathlon with SIM Aquathlon Club as we're still at the beginning phase of our season! So this is definitely an invitation not to reject!

We look forward to seeing all of you. (:

CCA Recruitment Drive

Hello there! Thank you for visiting our blog. I am sure you did not just chance upon this site by random. You must have been present at the CCA recruitment drive where you had taken interest in our club, took a brochure from our friendly members at the booth and keyed in our blog address on your browser. Well you have made the right move! This is the place where you can learn more about SIM Aquathlon club. Give the blog posts a read to find out Who we are, What we do and What the sport of Aquathlon is all about.

If you have signed up with us at the booth, we will be contacting you very soon. (:

To those who did not leave your names and particulars behind but wish to find out more about Aquathlon and see if our club is the right place for you, feel free to email us at aquathlon@clubs.sim.edu.sg. Direct your queries to either Dannel or myself(Daniel) and we will respond to your mail.

We thank you for coming by our booth and taking a closer look at our club brochure instead of chucking it into the bin right after recruitment drive was over. That gesture alone shows you have the determination to be a SIM Aquathlete!

Exciting 3rd quarter of 2012 for SIM Aquathlon!

The months of June and July have certainly proved the start of the club's season to be an eventful one. In late June, 3 of our club's fine athletes represented Singapore University Team in the 2012 World University Triathlon Championships held at Yilan, Taipei. The 3 of them were non other than Waikit & Yanling who're both the club's Team captains, together with Eugene who's one of the more seasoned swimmers in our club. All of us were elated and excited to have their participation in this world class level collegiate race. It was definitely the biggest and closest to an ITU-level race the trio have ever participated. And for student athletes like us, this championships meant as big as representing the country for the Olympics. This race meant a great deal not only to the athletes but also to their fellow friends and members of the club whose hopes, promise and well wishes followed the athletes up to the world stage in Taiwan. Surely, all of us were more than proud to have members from our club race in an event of this scale, alongside elite athletes from other powerhouse countries. Albeit non of them won medals, their return was still a triumphant one as the experience itself was ever so rewarding to them. Here are some pictures!

Eugene finishing his swim

Yanling's bike to run transition

Waikit's splendid finish!

Some of us welcoming their return!

This whole World University Championships even seemed to raise a triathlon fever among SIM aquathletes as more of us were inspired and motivated to perform better not only in Aquathlon, but also in accomplishing triathlons. As a result, we went up to Port Dickson as a team to participate in the Port Dickson International Triathlon during the first week of July. Even though most of us were new to racing triathlons be it as individuals or as a relay team, it didn't daunt us the slightest bit. In fact, not only did most of us have a pretty smooth 'virgin race', we all had a good time together and it was an enjoyable trip for everyone. All of us returned home looking forward to the next time we could go up to Malaysia as a club to do triathlon races.

Heading up to Port Dickson!

Waiting for race briefing to start..

Post race team picture!

We also stepped up training starting this month as we begun our weekly brick trainings at Sentosa on Sunday mornings initiated by Coach Peter. He wished for us to improve not only on the swim and run segments, but also in transition, a big area all of us could work on.

Surely, it seems that we've started the season with a louder bang this year! And we're just beginning! (: we still have the CCA Recruitment drive which is happening in just a few days time, and lots of events coming up in the month of September to look forward to. Such as the Singapore Triathlon, Desaru Triathlon and not forgetting, SUniG Aquathlon 2012!! Busy days await us as the club prepares for a group of newly recruited members and gears up for these upcoming races! It will be an exciting third quarter of the year for SIM Aquathlon.

Celebrate endings, for they precede new beginnings!

In March, we came to an end of the season together. With a blink of an eye its already June and we have had our first swim session for the new season. The turn out for the first training was a heartwarming sight! It was good having most of you back for training and encouraging seeing that all our fitness levels have not dropped very much! We hope to see the same number if not, more of you on the track this coming Wednesday for our run.

During yesterday's swim, Coach Peter was a bit creative with the swim sets. We did 5X100m X 4sets freestyle swim, with the 1st and 3rd sets having 10seconds rest between every 100m, and the 2nd and 4th sets having 30seconds rest in between. After which we did a 25m head up freestyle sprint followed by easy 25m swim X10 sets. Inclusive of warm ups, we did a total of 2.9k of swimming! Not bad for our first session in months! (:

As mentioned during debrief yesterday, a new season inevitably means new leadership. Apart from the Vice President and President for the club who are Dannel and myself respectively, we are very pleased to have with us Yan ling back as the Womens Team Captain, Wai kit as our new Mens Team Captain and Josephine who was formally introduced yesterday as the Secretary for the club. The five of us will form the new team of excos leading the club for this new season. Dannel and I are both very thankful to have the willingness of these 3 members in supporting us, because with Yan ling's experience in the scene of Aquathlon and Triathlon, and Wai kit's knowledge in physical training issues, together with Josephine's people skills, we believe we have the potential to be a strong team of Excos.

But excos alone cannot bring the club anywhere, the core of the club is still its members. Since SIM Aquathlon is filled with enthusiastic and passionate individuals, the Excos would definitely wish for involvement and contributions from the members. All of us in the club have the equal opportunity to make the difference in bringing the club to greater heights, and we will always welcome feedback. So please approach us if you have recommendations and suggestions on things you wish to see a change in or activities you would like to have for the new season, we will try to work something out! Together, we can make this coming season an exciting one. For now, let us train hard and look forward to racing in Port Dickson! (:

Hello Dragon Year!

Training picked up after the festive break in Jan, and everyone managed to take it in their stride. Shedding the weight gained from eating bak gua.. pineapple tarts.. and insane amount of eating.

Our annual CNY reunion was held at Ryan's place. Yusheng.. Gambling.. Mario Kart.. pizzas.. curry chicken... checkered shirt night.. and our alumni joined us for dinner too! Great to see you guys back!

We also had Wai Kit and Yan Ling who went to Subic Bay for the National Age Group Triathlon. Both Wai Kit and Yan Ling came in 2nd overall and Gold medal placing in their age group!!! Well done and congratulations! Thanks to Coach and to the awesome supporters who went down to cheer them on!

Click on this link below to watch their interview by the local media!

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/video/108733/200-atleta-sumabak-sa-national-age-group-triathlon

There is only 2 more weeks to Sing Bi before we are done with the season! I believe we are more prepared this time round as we have increased our brick training sessions. Looking forward to the remaining training sessions!

Jan Training Program

Run on 4^th Jan

Run drills for 15mins.

1200m x 5 (6’) with recovery 400m.

EZ run of 2km.

Warm down

Run on 11^th Jan

Run drills for 15mins

1200m (6’) and recovery of 400m , 1600m (8’) with recovery of 400m, 2km (10”) with recovery of 400m and 2.4km(12’) with recovery of 400m.

EZ run of 800m.

Warm Down.

Run on 18^th Jan

Run drills for 15mins.

2000m x 4 (10’) with recovery of 400m between sets.

EZ run of 800m.

Warm down.

Run on 25^th Jan

Run drills for 15mins.

Fun Relay : Form a team of 4 runners and do a 4x 800m.

Time Trial : 5km.

Warm down : Exercises

Swim on 9^th Jan

Warm Up : 20x Push Ups, Leg raise (1’) and Planks (45sec) x 3 sets.

Main : FR 100m (2’), 200m (4’), 300m (6’), 400 (8’) and 400m , 300m,

200m, 100m

KICK : 400m (1^st 25m FR , 2^nd 25m BR)

30min Swim : 50m, Exit , Walk back to start line and contd swim 50m…

Sprints : 25m x 10

Warn down : 200m

TOTAL : 3000m

Swim on 16^th Jan

Warm Up : 20x Push Ups,50x Jumping jacks and Alternate Planks (45sec) x 3 sets.

Main : FR 400m x 6 (8’)

FR KICK : 50m x 10 (1’30)

Drills : 200m (up on left arm pull and down on right arm pull)

Warm Down : 200m.

TOTAL : 3100m

Swim on 23rd Jan

Warm Up : 20x Push Ups, Alternate planks 45 sec) and Reverse planks (45sec) x 3 sets.

Main : FR 800m (16’), 400m (8’) x 2 sets.

Breath Control : Swim 25m underwater using BR, surface and EZ 25m x 10.

Time Trial : 800m

TOTAL : 3450m

Feb Training Program

Swim sets for 6th Feb 2012
WU: 200m FR drill (up on left, down on right)
Main Set: 1 X 500m FR
2 X 400m FR
3 X 300m FR
Follwed by long ez 800m FR
WD : 200
Total mileage : 3400m

Run Training on 8th Feb at 7pm
Warm up - 30mins run drills.
Main - 1200m, 1600 2000.
(On 50%. Slope drills after each run sets)
1600m and 1200.
(On 80%. Slope drills after each run sets)
3km run on 50%.
Total - 10600m

Swim training on 13th Feb.
Warm up : 400m FR.
Main : 100m x 20 (2')
Ez 200m BR.
Chasing the dragon. 500 x 2.
Warm down : 200m.

Run Training on 15th Feb.
Warm up : 800m
Main : 2.4km x 5. (13min or 60%)

Singapore Biathlon 2012

SIM Aquathlon will be training for this upcoming race which is on the 3rd of March. We welcome SIM students to train with us for the race!

Thank you!

Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year!

It's almost the end of 2011 and we are already half way through our season! The month of December has been an interesting and fun filled month. We had our 1st ever camp held at SIM Ulu Pandan Campus, had our Xmas BBQ cum potluck celebration and supporting our friends at UOL pageant at Zouk!

During the camp, we got the opportunity to do dragon boat and pilates other than just plain swimming and running! It was great to see everyone enjoying themselves throughout the camp and we appreciate all who came for the camp. At Ben's place, we had delicious food contributed by everyone and we would like to thank the BBQers and people who contributed! We had a fun time doing our Xmas gift exchange.... snatching each other's gift... and Austin's $10 note was seriously OMG!

I believe that over the course of the season (especially the month of December), the club has come a lot closer. The camp, training sessions, cohesion, has bonded everyone and this has improved the culture of the club. Although there has been improvements... there are still areas to be further refined in order for the club to move to greater heights.

It is per say, that it was fate that brought us all together in this club, pursuing our individual interests (be it for healthy lifestyle or for excellence/perfection), and for the EXCO to lead all of you through the season. As much as we would love to improve the many aspects of the club, we are limited by the time that we have to accomplish all these task. Which means we are only able to do certain things in the club's adolescence phase. There will be different challenges and tasks faced at different stages.... and we believe that we managed them well and are on the right track!

We will be training for Singapore Biathlon 2012 which will fall on 3rd March 2012. That leaves us only 2 more months to train for it. Remember to train hard and safe towards the built up to the race! This will ensure that we remain injury-free and enjoy doing Aquathlon!

Let's turn up the heat and let the competition begin! :)

SIM Sports Award Night 2011

Congratulations to Team Aquathlon for clinching our first ever Team Merit Award!

It is a great honour that the Team's efforts and achievements are being recognised by SIM. Being only a 2 year old club, this is definitely a milestone to celebrate. Wei Hoong and I hope that the club will achieve greater heights in years to come. Congrats to all who got individual awards too! And to those who did not, don't fret! Your time will come soon.

Keep it up Aquathletes! The best is yet to be!

Mental Skills Workshop

We recently attended Mental Skills Workshop conducted by Mr Edgar Tham. We learnt about how important mental toughness was and how it is possible to fix our thoughts in order to achieve greater sporting heights. Setting of goals, playing mind tricks, cue words, self talk, imaginary etc..

Here are some of my views...

I believe SIM Aquathlon Team is definitely capable of achieving more with a positive attitude and enthusiasm while remaining calm, composed and humble at all times.

This is a sport with no age limit. Anyone is able to do this sport as long as they are able to swim and run. It does not matter if you can perform both disciplines well or just adequately.

The most important thing is to enjoy Aquathlon as a sport for life!

Into the monsoon season

Swim and run training has been constantly affected by the unpredictable weather these days. This can't be help as we are now in the year end monsoon season...

Training at UWC has been good so far. The whole swimming pool to ourselves, plenty of equipment for our training... really a great environment! On top of that, we are now saving our $1 entrance fees (some of you saved your $0.50... tsk tsk).

Our training sessions at the swimming pool are more focused now compared to the times at Clementi Swimming Complex. Program is written clearly on the white board which allows everyone to know what is the training program for the evening. Lesser talking during intervals are a good sign that everyone is getting more focused as well as putting in more effort during swim training.

A lot of last minute changes has been done prior to the start of run training lately due to the crazy weather. Coach and EXCO had to work out the contingency plan and at times make crucial judgement based on our intuition and experience. Safety is our number 1 priority! Therefore we hope that you guys understand and respect the decisions we make!

It is great to see many of you improve on your run with the constant training you have been putting in. Dannel, Josephine, Wai Chong, Mei Yan, just to name a few, are improving on your run. On a separate note, do train with enough sensibility and be safe.. don't be like me kena shin splint.. and in the end have to stop running and it will be another uphill task.

We also celebrated Ben's birthday after one of our training! We wish him a happy belated birthday once again!

All the best to those running marathon this weekend!

14th Nov Swim

Warm Up: 400m Drills

Main: 5 x 200m (4")

Free kick 10 x 50m (1"30)

Free sprints 10 x 50m

Warm Down 200m

Total: 2700m

16th Nov Run

Warm up : Ez run to Rifle Range Road.
Main : 400m x 8 with 400m downslope recovery.
Ez run back.
Total Mileage : approx 8.8km.

21st Nov Swim

Warm Up : FR 400m
Main : {100m (2') , 200 (4') } x 8
Kicks : 50m x 8 (FR and BR) (1'30)
Warm Down : 200m

23rd Nov Run

Indoor interval trainings.
2.4km Time Trial.
Total : 3400m

Brick Training and Run

800m swim and 5km run was done on our Monday's brick training. Yet another great turn out and we appreciate everyone's attending on a public holiday.

We tried running at the Rifle Range Road for our run training. It was a refreshing change from the usual route at the canal. It was a little dark but other than that, it was still a pretty good training!

Next week training will be a UWC. Look forward to seeing you guys!

Let's Push!

This week's training was pushed up a notch. We completed 3500m for swim and a 8km run training. Fun and games are now a popular item in our training these few weeks. I must say that the 8x50m sprints were really demanding and the 8km was done with such breeze!

Mini race will be coming up soon so I hope that all of you will be preparing to do your best for your team!

<<< Swim Training on 31st Oct 2011 >>>
Warm Up - 400m Drills.
Main - FR 150m x 10 (3')
FR Kick - 50m x 10 (1'30)
Endurance - FR 500m (50m fast and 500 slow)
Sprint - FR 50m x 8 (1'45)
Warm down - 200m
Total = 3500m

<<< Run Training on 2nd Nov 2011 >>>
Warm Up - 400m
Main - 600 x 10 (3'30) with 200m recovery walk or jog.
Touch rubgy.
Warm down.
Total : 8000m.

Swim Video and Brick Training

It was our second last training at Clementi Swimming Complex. Coach took the opportunity to show us how top swimmers execute their flawless technique through some video clips. The sharing session was an eye opener for some as it gives them a better perspective of how better and efficient swimming strokes are suppose to be. 2 relay teams competed against one another wearing a t-shirt. It was fun to see everyone struggling with the "transition" of passing the t-shirt to the next swimmer.

Brick training was held on Deepavali and it was really good to see such a good turn out once again. The hot sun and high tide was a perfect combination for an amazing swim and run at Sentosa. Everyone slapped on a thick layer of sun block lotion before heading out to sea to block the harmful sun rays, and for the other not so obvious reason of warding off sea bug bites. The sight of the guys wearing our striking tri tops was just beautiful. Training officially ended and the morning continued with volleyball at the beach!

Swim Training on 24th Oct

Warm Up: 400m Drills

Main: (100m - 200m - 300m - 400m) x 2

FUN: Relay with T-Shirt

Total: 2450m

Brick Training on 26th Oct

EZ Swim of 200m with sighting

800m Swim followed by 5km run.

Fun Training Week!

Coach introduced the "fun" factor in our trainings for the week. It was a good change from the usual training sessions which we have been used to doing. This is possible as we are in our lull period now.. and doing other activities can help spice up our training!

It was also great to see many of you turn up despite the unpredictable weather on Wednesday.. fortunately the EXCO made the right decision and we definitely enjoyed the training!

I think we should totally do more of this wheelbarrow swim, sprinting and captains ball! :)

<<< Swim Training on 17th Oct 2011 >>>

Warm Up : 400m drills

Main : 20 x 100m FR (2') (2.30)

EZ : 200m BR

Sprints : 10x 50m (1st 25m BR followed by FR)

FUN : Wheelbarrow 100m

Warm Down : 200m (Any stroke except FR)

Total = 3300m.

<<< Run Training on 19th Oct 2011 >>>

Warm Up : 800m EZ

Main : 10 x 400m (Main pack 2' with 1min rest interval) (Chasing pack 3' with
1min R.I)

: Main pack EZ 400m, 300m, 200m, 100m

FUN games : Buddy pull and sprint, Captains Ball.

Warm down

Total Milegae : 5800m and 4800m.

Long Run in a Long While

Had a usual long run today of 7.2km. Of which 4.8km was the higher intensity portion along the canal. It was great to see that a lot of you guys have improved and were able to clock good times at a comfortable pace.

Calisthenics was conducted by the 2 Captains.

1. Forward Lunges
2. Push ups
3. Dips
4. Crunches
5. Bridge

Attendance was excellent and we look forward to seeing you for more fun training sessions!

Keep training and you will see the results soon! :)

Back to proper training

Coach Peter is back! A lot of drills were done as well as sculling which was very different from our normal training session. It was a refreshing workout and we look forward for the next training!

Warm Up: 200m
Total Immersion Drills : 400m
Main : 800m FR (25m head up, 25m slow)
Sculling : 400m
Sprints : 10 x 50m
Warm Down : 200m.

Total = 2500m.

Running With Jason Part 2

Hi Everyone!

I hope you guys enjoyed today's training! Here's what we did:

1) Warm Up- 1 Round around track + Stretches

2) Main 1>3 sets of 60s:120s (60s of high intensity run followed by 120s of jog)

3) Main 2> 3 sets of 800m (Guys group 1: 3min-3m30s. Guys group 2: 3m30s-4m) (Ladies group 1: 3m50s-4min. Ladies group 2: 4m-4m30s)

4) Calisthenics Exercises: 3 sets of (20push ups, 20 crunches, 20 burpees) rest interval 1m-1m30s.

5) Cool down- Simple stretches.

Total Distance approx: 3.4km.